TRADES TRAINING CENTRES OFFICIALLY OPENED

Federal Member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon today participated in the official opening of the All Saints College Trades Training Centres.

The former Rudd Labor Government provided just over $4.2 million to the cluster to build Trade Training facilities at All Saints College, St Joseph’s Campus and St Peter’s Campus.

Despite promising no cuts to education, Tony Abbott has cancelled every future Trades Training Centre and cut $950 million out of the Budget – enough to build 650 new centres. This will have a big impact on our local community, and opportunities for local children.

New information – obtained from the Education Department through Senate Estimates – shows five eligible schools in the Hunter electorate will never get the opportunity to have a Trade Training Centre because of Tony Abbott’s cuts.

Our young people need skills and work experience to get good jobs, and Trade Training Centres mean high school students get the opportunity to do that.

Denying students these opportunities will just make youth unemployment worse, and rob our young people of a fair shot at getting a job – the kind of opportunities that today’s workforce benefited from when they were young.